21st Century Warfare May Require Turning the Joint Staff into a General Staff

The Office of the Secretary of Defense is incapable of providing the necessary direction and control over conflicts that will inevitably be multi-domain and employ resources from all the services. The perspective of the Combatant Commands is too restrictive. Nor does the current structure address the challenge of multi-theater, multi-adversary conflicts. What is needed is a true General Staff that can provide the necessary direction and, in the event of a major conflict, control over global and theater forces throughout all domains.

Dr. Dan Goure is a Vice President of the Lexington Institute. He served in the Pentagon during the George H.W. Administration and has taught at Johns Hopkins and Georgetown Universities and the National War College. You can follow him on twitter @dgoure and you can follow the Lexington Institute @LexNextDC.